Spotify Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Spotify - Essay Example The strategic framework of SpotifyTM will help to implement technology to sustain competitive advantage in terms of cost and efficiency. Formulating other forms of strategies such as e-marketing, CRM, or SCM as part of organisation’s strategy helps a company to mange and utilise their resources optimally. Introduction SpotifyTM provides cloud based music streaming service delivered via internet mobile phones. Through cloud computing it offers subscribers access to its vast database of music. To maintain such large database the company would require effective managing of its information system. The information system is not isolated and constitutes interaction between hardware, software, data, people, and telecommunication. These components of an information system are built to create, assemble, and distribute important data and information to people across the globe (Lucey, 2004, p.31). From the information system hierarchy model it can be said that the strategic development i s a top down approach and it flows downwards from the top level management of organisation. The information system connects the top level management with people and process (Doyle, 2001, pp.2-14). ... he business strategy of SpotifyTM is to adapt to new technology of cloud computing and generate revenues through cloud based business model which will allow subscribers unlimited access to music database at least cost and shortest time. Using the five forces model, the relative attractiveness of cloud based technology industry can be analysed as follows: Threat of New Entrants - SpotifyTM offers its subscribers a vast database of music via cloud computing technology. As a result the subscribers will have faster access to music more conveniently and even from their mobile sets, at any place any time without having them to carry memory devices. At the same time multi-user interface will not slow down the server. The users will also get unlimited storage space and remote access even if their hard disk may have limited space. All these features and facilities provided by SpotifyTM are unlikely to face threat from the new entrants. Bargaining Power of Suppliers - The cost of cloud computi ng is economical since the database is centralised. It also requires less space, bandwidth and power. Thus, suppliers will have limited influence over SpotifyTM business model. Bargaining Power of Buyers - Cloud computing is very cost effective as it do not require subscribers to invest extra time and money to use standalone servers. Using cloud based computing the subscriber will get the opportunity to save money on data storage cost, management cost, and software updates. Threat of Substitutes – The only threat to cloud based technology is open source computing but it is much slower and requires the subscriber to have physical memory in order to store data which makes it more expensive compared to cloud based technology. Rivalry among Existing Competitors - SpotifyTM offers cloud based

Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech 2 Research Paper

Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech 2 - Research Paper Example Knowing these accomplishments of Martin Luther King, I was awed by him more especially when I knew that he was a pious man, being a Christian pastor. Further research however revealed that Martin Luther King is also a man just like everyone else except of course that he has lofty ideals. The speech â€Å"I Have a Dream† whom we consider as a masterpiece was even written with uncertainty for two reasons; first, King was advised by his aides not to use it anymore because he had been delivering it and it may sound like a cliche. Second, it was not a prepared speech but was only written the night before and up to the delivery of the speech, it underwent rigorous editing that its delivery may have been the first that the final version was completed. These information were of course not immediately associated with the speech of King but it was a good idea that Martin Luther King is also man, subject to its own insecurities but managed to overcome it by his lofty ideals that is rever ed by generations after him. I. Picture and description of historical event (Source: Historywired) This is a picture Martin Luther King delivering the legendary â€Å"I have a dream speech† from the steps of Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963. Looking at the picture alone, it looked like everything went perfect for the organizers of the march as well as the crowd. King was on a stage delivering his speech as intended while the audiences as shown in the background were intently listening as expected. The outcome was so successful that we are tempted to think that there were no issues during the preparation of this speech. Until of course when we dig deeper that we realize that such event was just like any other event where the organizers were jittery and unsure of what will be the outcome. For instance, attempting to stage a march of a projected number of 100,000 people (around 250,000 showed up) is unprecedented and they we re not sure if they can reach that number (Younge). Just when we thought that the â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech itself was a perfectly prepared speech as depicted in the picture that was customized for the occasion, it was actually the opposite. Readers may be blown away with the fact that the â€Å"I Have a Dream Speech† was nearly not delivered because Martin Luther King was discouraged by aides for delivering a speech that has that theme cautioning him that it may already be an overuse and already a cliche. Younge narrated that â€Å"the night before the March on Washington, on 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King asked his aides for advice about the next day's speech. "Don't use the lines about 'I have a dream', his adviser Wyatt Walker told him. "It's trite, it's cliche. You've used it too many times already." This meant that up to the last moment of the march, King did not even have a speech yet. The night before when his aide checked him in his room, he was still writing it and the paper had many erasures. Even the final speech itself had many corrections indicating that up to the last moment, King had been editing his speech and the delivered speech may be the first recitation of the repeatedly edited speech. This apparent cramming in preparation of the speech was

Corporate Restructuring As A Strategic Decision Management Essay

Corporate Restructuring As A Strategic Decision Management Essay The interrelationships between organisation, strategic management and business environmental conditions have been enduring themes of organisation and management theory over the last 4 decades, and restructuring has emerged as a significant mechanism in the successful adaptation of organisations to environmental influences (Clark, 2004). The 1980s were characterised by a wave of important restructuring activities, this wave has become increasingly common during the 1990s (Lin, Lee Peterson, 2006; Park Kim, 2008). The concept of restructuring is still a matter of debate and controversy because of the modernity of the subject. Bowman and Singh (1993) described restructuring as change aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management teams performance through considerable changes in organisational structure. Staniforth (1994) defined restructuring as opportunities for change, improvements in the organisation, and to achieve the benefits of cost, the benefits of strategic d ecision-making, the benefits of communication, and other benefits to the organisation. Restructuring is a fundamental change that significantly affects the organisation, and takes place either at the organisational level or radically reorganising activities and relationships at the business unit level (Alkhafaji, 2001). Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2001) argued that restructuring is a strategy through which the organisation can change its financial or commercial position. Stevenson, Bartunek and Borgatti (2003) described restructuring as attempts to get people within the organisation to work more closely together. Restructuring is a purposeful strategic option for organisation renewal (Brauer, 2006), typically includes a set of activities such as downsizing, sale of a business line, closures or consolidation of facilities, business relocation, or changes in management structure, which often occur as part of organisational strategies intended to improve efficiency, control costs, and adapt to an ever changing business environment (Lin, Lee Peterson, 2006). Thus, modifications of the organisations assets, capital structure, and organisational structure fall into the general concept of corporate restructuring (Singh, 1993; Bowman et al., 1999). Restructuring refers to the transformation of corporate structure (Bowman Singh, 1990), organisational re-configuration (Bowman Singh, 1993), refocusing (Markides, 1995), down scoping (Hitt et al., 1994; Johnson, 1996), and patching (Eisenhardt Brown, 1999; Siggelkow, 2002). The term restructuring is mainly used to denote considerable changes in the assets and structural components of organisations through conscious managerial actions. Bowman and Singh (1990) claimed that restructuring is aimed at achieving individual, financial, strategic, and/or operational goals and objectives. Bowman et al. (1999), differentiate three key forms of restructuring: portfolio restructuring, related to the changes in the portfolios of businesses held by diversified organisations, including acquisitions, mergers, divestitures etc. ; financial restructuring, which includes considerable changes in the capital structure of an organisation, and organisational restructuring, which includes significant changes in the organisational structure of the organisation, including divisional redesign and downsizing. Advocates of corporate restructuring argue that the result of restructuring activities is a leaner and more efficient corporate (Singh, 1993). Critics, however, contend that restructuring damages the organisation and its internal and external stakeholders (Seth Easterwood, 1993). 2.2.4.2 Key Drivers of Restructuring: In the 1960s and 1970s, several organisations diversified their business predominantly via the acquisition of businesses unrelated to their core activities, thus frequently realising conglomerate status (Shleifer Vishny, 1991; Hoskisson Hitt, 1994; Davis, Diekmann, Tinsley, 1994; Servaes, 1996; Johnson, 1996; Bergh, 2001). During the 1980s and 1990s, many diversified organisations were reorganised as a result of organisational refocusing initiatives intended to cut down both the breath of organisation portfolios (i.e., lower levels of diversification) and overall organisation size, thus eventually translating into organisations holding more related diversified activities (Williams, Paez Sanders, 1988; Markides, 1992; Davis, Diekmann, Tinsley, 1994; Kose Ofek, 1995; Comment Jarrell, 1995; Berger Ofek, 1995; Johnson, 1996, Cascio, 2002, Park Kim, 2008). A related diversified business is one in which the company controls businesses that share similarities in markets, products, and/or technologies with the intent of allowing organisation management to take advantage of the interrelationships between the related businesses (Rumelt, 1974; Palepu, 1985; Hoskisson Hitt, 1990; Hoskisson Hitt, 1994). As already mentioned, a multitude of theoretical and empirical investigations into the antecedents of restructuring have shown that different factors precipitate corporate restructuring. Restructuring literature reveals that there are four key drivers of restructuring. 2.2.4.2.1 The Agency justification: The premier justification as to why companies engage in restructuring is in response to less than acceptable performance (Montgomery, Thomas Kamath, 1984; Duhaime Grant, 1984; Hoskisson, Johnson Moesel, 1994; Hoskisson Hitt, 1994; Markides, 1995; Johnson, 1996; Markides Singh, 1997, Filatotchev, Buck, Zhukov, 2000, Love Nohria, 2005; Perry Shivdasani, 2005; DSouza, Megginson, Nash, 2007; Hsieh, 2010). In other words, a company divests organisational assets with the intent of improving organisational performance, whether it is their organisational performance in respect to competitors, the overall industry, or a predetermined objective (Greve, 1998). Research has undoubtedly demonstrated that organisations engaged in restructuring often are performing unsatisfactorily prior to the initiation of corporate restructuring (Duhaime Grant, 1984; Montgomery, Thomas Kamath, 1984; Sicherman Pettway, 1987; Duhaime Baird, 1987; Ravenscraft Scherer, 1987; Montgomery Thomas, 1988; H oskisson Johnson, 1992; Markides, 1992; Hoskisson Hitt, 1994; Hoskisson, Johnson Moesel, 1994; Lang, Poulson Stulz, 1995; Markides, 1995; Johnson, 1996; Markides Singh, 1997; Bowman et al., 1999; Bergh, 2001; Love Nohria, 2005; Perry Shivdasani, 2005; DSouza, Megginson, Nash, 2007; Hsieh, 2010). The majority of large organisations exhibit periodic corporate restructuring involving simultaneous changes in strategy, organisational structure, management systems, and corporate top management members. Such corporate restructuring usually follows declining organisational performance (Grant, 2008). Jain (1985), for example, found that organisation performance began to suffer nearly a year prior to restructuring and caused negative excess stock return of 10.8% within the period of one year prior to the restructuring. Such evaluations of ones own organisational performance are considerable since sound organisational performance is required to ensure the sustenance and survival of the corporate (Child, 1972), as well as offering feedback to the organisations as to the viability of their plans (Cyert March, 1963). Thompson (1967) notes that publicly traded organisations closely monitor changes in the value of their stock since the market exhibits a visible social judgment about the organisations fitness for the organisational future. The agency justification of restructuring, poor organisational performance as an antecedent of restructuring (Ravenscraft Scherer, 1987; Hoskisson Turk, 1990; Hoskisson Hitt, 1994; Markides Singh, 1997; Filatotchev, Buck, Zhukov, 2000) has become the leading justification in the literature to account for the corporate restructuring wave of the 1980s. Mainly, this rationale claims that organisation performance needs to be improved as a direct outcome of past managerial incompetence, which includes excessive levels of diversification, inappropriate diversification, unprofitable investments, and substandard investments in RD. For example, it is argued that decision makers frequently increased organisation size and levels of diversification without comparable increases in organisation value (Jensen, 1986; Hoskisson Turk, 1990; Jensen, 1993; Johnson, 1996). Moreover, it is argued that strategic decision makers have the opportunity to diversify their firms even when doing so does not enhance the market value of the organisation because their personal wealth is associated more with organisation size than to organisation performance (Jensen Meckling, 1976; Amihud Lev, 1981; Bethel Liebeskind, 1993). Grant, Jammine and Thomas (1988) found that increased degrees of diversification gave rise to decreased organisations returns, thus implying that, over time, strategic decision makers sacrificed performance for diversification and growth. Empirical studies (e.g., Rumelt, 1974; Wernerfelt Montgomery, 1988; Lubatkin Chatterjee, 1991; Palich, Cardinal, Miller, 2000; Bergh, 2001; Mayer Whittington, 2003) have substantiated such a conclusion by arguing that organisations pursuing a organisational strategy of unrelated diversification possess lower market returns than organisations pursuing related diversification and growth strategies. Supporter of the agency justification suggest that such managerial inefficiencies occur considerably as a consequence of agency costs (i.e., enlarged managerial consumption of organisational resources resulting from poor, or ineffective governance systems). Essentially, this perspective argues that the board of directors, ownership concentration, and decision makers incentives were inefficient and led to the failure of organisational governance as a mechanism (Hoskisson Turk, 1990; Jensen, 1993; Bethel Liebeskind, 1993; Gibbs, 1993; Hoskisson, Johnson, Moesel, 1994; Johnson, Daily, Ellstrand, 1996; Johnson, 1996; Chatterjee Harrison, 2001). Although never clearly clarified in the literature, poor governance is believed to be identified by diffusion of shareholdings among foreign owners, certain characteristics of strategic decision makers (e.g., insignificant equity ownership by strategic decision makers and board members or an insignificant number of outsiders sitting on the bo ard), and decision makers and board members passivity (Johnson, Hoskisson, Hitt, 1993; Bethel Liebeskind, 1993; Gibbs, 1993; Johnson, 1996; Westphal Fredrickson, 2001; Dalton et al, 2003). Thus, the agency perspective has made restructuring synonymous with poor corporate governance (Hoskisson Turk, 1990; Bethel Liebeskind, 1993; Markides Singh, 1997). 2.2.4.2.2 The Mimicry Justification: It is argued that organisations restructure as a consequence of mimicking the behaviour of other firms that are engaged in the divestiture activities (Markides Singh, 1997). In line with mimetic isomorphism (DiMaggio Powell, 1983; Oliver, 1991), this perspective claims that organisations, either intentionally or unintentionally, engage in mimicry of organisational patterns of other actors in their networks who are realised as more successful or legitimate. Strategic decision makers engaged in such imitation consider that their actions will be perceived as rational (Meyer Rowan, 1977; DiMaggio Powell, 1983). Such claims were adopt by Davis, Diekmann, and Tinsley (1994) in their justification of the decline of the conglomerate organisation in the United States of America during the period of 1980s. 2.2.4.2.3 The Environmental Justification: Scholars (e.g., Meyer, Brooks, Goes, 1990; Grinyer McKiernan, 1990; Hoskisson Hitt, 1990; Shleifer Vishny, 1991; Kose, Lang Netter, 1992; Chatterjee, 1992; Johnson, 1996; Bergh Lawless, 1998; Robinson Shimizu, 2006; Park, 2007; Park Kim, 2008; Nag Pathak, 2009) have suggested that environmental circumstances serve as antecedents to increased corporate restructuring. It is argued that antitrust policy shifts, tax rationales, junk bond financing, intense competition, deregulation, technology developments and changes, and takeover activities through the market for organisational control are reasons for the significant increase in corporate restructuring activity in the 1980s (Johnson, 1996). A synthesis of studies exploring such associations suggests that changes in the environmental conditions, which increase environmental uncertainty or turbulence, result in a greater likelihood of corporate restructuring. Grinyer McKiernan (1990), for example, suggested that corporate restructuring may result from changes in the industrial sector that create an aspiration-induced crisis built on the current organisational performance or market share and where strategic decision makers believe the firm ought to be. Further support of the environmental conditions argument was conducted by Meyer, Brooks and Goes (1990) who explored organisational strategic responses to discontinuous change at the industrial sector level. They explored the hospital industry in San Francisco state, which was facing considerable environmental turbulence, which led to excess capacity, regulatory changes, and resource scarcity. To deal with these environmental changes the hospital industry engaged in spin-of fs of unnecessary areas, underwent divestitures of peripheral activities, and created networks among the hospitals to respond to the need for managed health care in the San Francisco state. Moreover, a third study to justify the environmental conditions perspective was offered by Bergh and Lawless (1998), who explored external uncertainty and its influence on the strategic decisions the organisation makes. Their study suggested that organisations experienced with highly uncertain circumstances engage in divestitures to cut down the expenses of managing a diverse portfolio. Scholars (e.g., Garvin, 1983; Ito, 1995, Campa Kedia, 2002; Rose Ito, 2005) have contended that restructuring can be a reaction to shocks in the external environment. Dodonova and Khoroshilov (2006) found that divestiture activities tend to occur during economic booms, whereas Campa and Kedia (2002) suggested the opposite. Divestiture activities seem more likely to occur in ever-changing business environments and highly competitive markets (Ito, 1995; Eisenhardt Brown, 1999). Because large organisations form significant parts of the task environments of other firms, one organisations restructuring may tend to create environmental instability for other firms, particularly those in the same industrial sector. Such claim is explicit in Brown and Eisenhardts (1998) perspective of strategy as structured chaos. They argue that the best-performing organisations consistently lead change in their industrial sectors. According to Brown and Eisenhardts (1998) theory, such organisations dominate their markets. In fact, these organisations become the environment for others. Not only do they lead environmental change, but these organisations also set the rhythm and pace of that environmental change within their industrial sectors (Brown Eisenhardt , 1998). The role of restructuring in creating environmental turbulence and change is also implicit in the stream of research based on the hyper-competition concept (e.g., DAveni, 1994; Young, Smith, Grimm, 1998; Thomas, 19 98). The primary idea of hyper-competition is that competing firms engage in a continuous series of strategic actions that undercut the key advantages acquired by their competitors (DAveni, 1994; Smith Zeithaml, 1998). Such process is interchangeable, as objectives of competitive initiatives respond to those initiatives with actions of their own, their goals counter-respond, and so on. Therefore, changes in competition are among the most significant environmental factors for strategic decision makers to consider in corporate restructuring (Johnson, 1996). Competition may intensify because of the diversity of strategies by organisations in an industrial sector, a change in the power balance of organisations, and shifts in market demand (Porter, 1980). To cope with the challenges of increasing competition, strategic decision makers of organisations are usually encouraged to take further risk and often respond by corporate restructuring (Cool, Dierickx, Jemison, 1989). According to G rinyer and McKiernan (1990), competitive changes tend to an aspiration-induced crisis. When the competitive environment changes, corporate restructuring helps organisations to realise synergies, allocate resources, and improve organisational performance (Chatterjee, 1986; Hoskisson Hitt, 1988; Bergh, 1995; Bergh 1998). Another significant environmental antecedent of restructuring, the degree of government regulation, is a tool to control high risk-taking at the organisation level: when an economy is greatly regulated, firms are faced with bounded discretion in their strategic decisions (Wiseman Catanach, 1997). The reduction of governmental involvement increases the strategic decision-making discretion of organisations, improves the effectiveness of governance systems, and decreases the barriers to investments (Ramamurti, 2000). On the other hand, reduced governmental intervention increases the degree of uncertainty for organisations due to the increase in the variety of stakeholders, the rise of newly privatised organisation, and a concomitant increase in the probability of bankruptcy (Megginson Netter, 2001). Moreover, regulatory changes are positively associated with changes in organisation risk-taking strategies and behaviour, such as acquisitions (Ginsberg Buchholtz, 1990; Datta, Narayanan, Pinches, 1992). Under deregulation, according to Rajagopalan and Spreitzer (1997), less-focused, defender-like organisations tend to shift to greater focused, prospector-like strategies. 2.2.4.2.4 The Strategic Justification: Scholars suggest that organisation strategy is a driver of restructuring (Montgomery, Thomas, Kamath, 1984; Duhaime Grant, 1984; Baysinger Hoskisson, 1989; Markides, 1992; Markides, 1995; Johnson, 1996). In other words, restructuring may be associated with an organisations corporate or business level strategy. The strategic perspective claims that organisations decide to restructure for either corrective or proactive goals. Corrective divestiture activities are intended to make up for former strategic mistakes (Porter, 1987; Hitt et al, 1996), to reduce exaggerated diversification (Markides, 1992; Hoskisson, Johnson, Moesel, 1994), to refocus on core activities and businesses (Markides, 1992; Seth Easterwood, 1993), to react to an increase in industrial sector competition (Aron, 1991), to realign organisation strategy with the organisations identity (Mitchell, 1994; Zuckerman, 2000), to eliminate negative alliances (Miles Rosenfeld, 1983; Rosenfeld, 1984), or to deal with organ isational problems such as bad organisational governance (Hoskisson, Johnson, Moesel, 1994). On the other hand, the target of proactive divestitures is to restructure the organisational portfolio (Hitt et al., 1996; Bowman et al., 1999) by routinely redesigning, splitting, changing or exiting activities and businesses to cope with changing environment opportunities (Eisenhardt Brown, 1999; Siggelkow, 2002). This restructuring is aimed at creating a more efficient organisational governance system ( Seward Walsh, 1996), improving organisational profitability and performance (Woo, Willard, Daellenbach, 1992; Mitchell, 1994; Fluck Lynch, 1999; Haynes, Thompson, Wright, 2002), obtaining more cash flow (Jensen, 1989; Hitt et al., 1996), decreasing high level of debit (Montgomery, Thomas, Kamath, 1984; Hitt et al, 1996; Allen McConnell, 1998) or tax payments (Schipper Smith, 1986; John, 1993; Vijh, 2002), acquiring better business contracts from regulators (Schipper Smith, 1986; Woo, Willard, Daellenbach, 1992), or enhancing organisational entrepreneurship and innovativeness (Garvin, 1983; Cassiman Ueda, 2006). From a strategic view, most divesting organisations seem to be more diversified than their industrial sector counterparts (Hoskisson, Johnson, Moesel, 1994; Haynes, Thompson, Wright, 2003). Over-diversification pushes an organisation toward de-conglomeration and de-diversification as a correction of its strategic decisions and choices. Nevertheless, in very specific contexts, divestiture processes are also used to improve diversification (such as spin-offs processes in Japan) (Ito, 1995). Over-diversification decreases innovation and entrepreneurial spirit within organisations. Extremely diversified organisations tend to give priority to financial controls, to ignore strategic controls and therefore create less organisational innovation (Hitt et al., 1996), and to enlarge managerial risk aversion (Hoskisson, Johnson, Moesel, 1994). Thus, according to Garvin (1983), an organisation may engage in unbundling processes to enhance its entrepreneurial spirit and its organisational innov ation, or to enter technology-based and immature activities. Spin-offs processes, for example, can be used to encourage entrepreneurial spirit and organisational innovation in the divested business unit, while the parent gains some advantages from the new product, service, or technology developed in the independent organisation (Garvin, 1983). 2.2.5 Linkage Between Environmental Conditions, Decision Makers, and Restructuring as a Strategic Decision: The antecedents of restructuring show that restructuring is a strategic phenomenon. There are several postulates underlie such a perspective. The first postulate is that strategic restructuring decision is typically an organisational response to changing internal and/or external conditions. The second postulate is that internal and external pressures and influences are largely, but not totally, clear and identifiable in initiating such strategic restructuring. The third postulate is that numerous organisations currently experience these clear pressures and influences for a strategic adaptive response, and that large numbers of these firms seek to respond by strategic restructuring. A fourth and final postulate is that corporate restructuring generally improves organisation performance. Taken together, these postulates form the basis for a strategic view on corporate restructuring; in other words, that there are forces, pressures, and influences that provide a stimulus for strategic r estructuring, that these pressures affect several organisations, large numbers of whom respond by corporate restructuring, which improves organisational performance. However, two important questions should be raised: how do you decide which restructuring strategy to apply to which organisation? And what are the key factors affecting the strategic decision-making process and consequently restructuring decision as strategic choice? Although external environment has been identified as a significant variable in explaining numerous organisational phenomena (Jones, Jacobs, Spijker, 1992), scholars (Hitt Tyler, 1991; Eisenhardt Zbaracki, 1992; Dean Sharfman, 1993; Rajagopalan, Rasheed Datta, 1993, Papadakis Barwise, 1997; Brouthers, Brouthers, Werner, 2000; Hough White, 2003) realise that an organisations economic environment and competitive circumstances alone cannot clearly explain the nature of strategic decisions and its performance outcomes. So, to enhance the performance of their patterns, strategists have begun to focus on the behavioural factors of organisational strategic decision-making. This growing recognition to the significance of the behavioural element has naturally a focus on the individuals characteristics responsible for making these organisational strategic decisions. In public sector organisations the top managers are considered to be responsible for achieving the alignment of the organi sation with its environmental conditions (Andrews, 1971; Child, 1972). These decision makers must gather the significant information by which to make strategic decisions, analyse this input, deduce alternative approaches of action for the organisation, and finally choose and implement a particular strategic action for the organisation. The relationships between strategic decision makers, strategic decision-making processes, and organisational outcomes have been the key focus of top management research. Strategic decision makers, according to this research, do make a difference in the matter of organisation outcomes such as innovation strategies (Bantel Jackson, 1989; Camelo-Ordaz, Hernandez-Lara, Valle-Cabrera, 2005); organisational strategic change (Wiersema Bantel, 1992); and organisational performance (Hambrick Mason, 1984; Murray, 1989; Michel Hambrick, 1992; Peterson et al., 2003; Dwyer, Richard, Chadwick, 2003; Carpenter, Geletkanycz, Sanders, 2004). Such research suggested that certain demographic characteristics of the strategic decision makers (e.g., age, educational level, and tenure) were associated with organisational outcomes. Other scholars (Hitt, Ireland, Palia, 1982; Gupta Govindarajan, 1984; Walsh Seward, 1990; Davis Thompson, 1994; Westphal Fredrickson, 2001) have found that decision m akers characteristics such as experience are linked to the organisational strategic orientations. The empirical relations found between demographic characteristics of decision makers and organisational outcomes suggest that functional backgrounds might have significant ramifications for organisational strategic decision-making. Scholars have found that functional experience tends to restrict the areas to which strategic decision makers pay attention and may lead them to neglect certain stimuli (Beyer et al., 1997). Moreover, managerial experience affects the types of changes that decision makers perceive in the effectiveness of their firm, but not its environment (Waller, Huber, Glick, 1995) Managerial experiences shape the cognitive perspective of strategic decision makers (Hambrick Mason, 1984). The upper echelons theory claims that the strategic decision makers observable experiences affect their orientation and that strategic choice (Hambrick Mason, 1984; Finkelstein Hambrick, 1996; Pansiri, 2007). Therefore, according to Gupta (1984), decision makers differ in the sets of abilities, skills, and views that they bring to a company. Managerial skills, abilities, and perspectives are largely a function of previous functional backgrounds, personal backgrounds, and educational level. In other words, cognitive perspectives brought to bear on strategic decisions are a result of the various experiences that strategic decision makers acquire during their organisational careers (Schwenk, 1988). Research on organisational strategic issue diagnosis has drew attention to how decision makers cognitions can affect several aspects of the organisational strategic decision-making process from environmental scanning (Daft, Sormunen, Parks, 1988; Milliken, 1990; Abiodun, 2009), processing and analysis (Gioia, 1986; Dutton Duncan, 1987; Herrmann Datta, 2005), the evaluation of alternative approaches, and implementation of selected strategic decision (Dutton Jackson, 1987; Ganster, 2005; Kauer, Waldeck, Scha ¨ffer, 2007). Strategic decision makers cognitive perspectives or mental maps represent experientially acquired reference frames which involve sets of different criteria, standards of evaluation, and strategic decision rules that can restrict as well as facilitate the organisational ability to change. While strategic decision makers cognitive perspectives or mental frameworks provide a significant reference point for strategic decision-making, they can also extremely constrain the ability of the organisation to adapt to changing environmental demands. Weick (1979) argued that decision makers act on impoverished perspectives of the world. According to Schwenk (1988) cognitive limitations can thus provide biases into managerial schemata which can negatively influence the nature of strategic decision-making. The experientially acquired nature of strategic decision makers cognitive views makes them probably to be more reflective of previous organisational scenarios and strategic decisions than of present ones. By depending on past images of historical environmental conditions and competitive circumstances, strategic decision makers may not be able to realise or adequately define the need for organisational change. Thus strategic decision makers cognitive perspectives can determine the ability of the firm to cope with changing requirements and times and therefore decision makers can act as a stabilizing power on the organisation. Scholars (e.g. Schwenk, 1984; Wiersema Bantel, 1992; Eisenhardt Zbaracki, 1992; Waller, Huber Glick, 1995; Tyler Steensma, 1998) have argued that strategic decision makers characteristics might limit information search, processing, and/or retrieval in spite of decision makers desire to make strategic decisions according to the environmental requirements and conditions. As stated in social motivation perspective, managers may remain committed to specific courses of action based on their need to sustain consistency (Staw, 1981; Brockner, et al., 1986; Taylor Brown, 1988; Brockner, 1992; Keil, Mann, Rai, 2000; Biyalogorsky, Boulding, Staelin, 2006; Keil, Depledge, Rai, 2007). The incentives and needs that drive managers have significant ramification for strategic decisions: First, strategic decision makers who encounter information consistent with their cognitive perspectives or sets of beliefs will support that information. Second, strategic decision makers who are heavily inve sted in or committed to a specific approach of action are more likely to ignore information that does not consistent with their previous strategic decisions. Finally, only strategic decision makers who are committed to performing under scenarios of change will be willing and receptive to incorporate inconsistent information. Accordingly, research on social motivation argues that strategic decision makers are best at being receptive and willing to information that only marginally deviates from their sets of beliefs, while key changes are more unlikely to be easily incorporated. Moreover, strategic decision makers will probably ignore information that considerably deviates from their cognitive perspectives or sets of beliefs. Finally, Strategic decision makers can become embedded within the corporate routines and organisational processes that contribute to sustaining the status quo (Pfeffer Salancik, 1978; Staw Ross, 1980; Daft Weick, 1984; Tushman Romanelli, 1985). With growing organisational tenure and function experience and considerable familiarity with organisational processes and routines, strategic decision makers become susceptible to the organisational inertias factors. Miller (1991) argued that increasing managerial tenure results in corporate insularity. Over time, corporate exposure tends to lead to consistency to organisational norms and values (Kanter, 1977). Strategic decision makers may act as a stable governance system that determines the organisations ability to change. Decision makers experiences and perspectives reinforce prior courses of organisational strategic decision-making (Staw Ross, 1980). Therefore, managerial turnover provides an important mechanism by which firms can re align themselves with external environmental circumstances (Thompson, 1967; Katz Kahn, 1978; Perrow, 1986). By changing the power distribution within the firm, thus influencing the dynamics of strategic decision-making processes (Pfeffer Salancik, 1978), managerial turnover serves as a key force to overcome organisational resistance and inertia (Tushman Romanelli, 1985). Moreover, managerial turnover, according to Wiersema and Bantel (1993), may help the organisation to cope with radical changes in its external environment by introducing new values, beliefs, and knowledge ba

From Nihilism to Kingdom Come :: Philosophy Theology Religion Papers

The Final Stage of Mankind’s Education — From Nihilism to Kingdom Come ABSTRACT: I give reasons to believe that our present situation is not as bleak as some would have it. I show how the historical process can be understood in terms of a Premodernity (Aquinas), Modernity (Hegel), and Postmodernity (Nietzsche) division of human history. I argue that both Hegel and Nietzsche were fully aware that Modernity was over and that a negative Postmodern condition was to necessarily precede a consummatory positive one. Also since history may be taken to have reached its goal at the end of Modernity (with Reasons grasp of Christianity’s principle), Postmodernity can best be understood in terms of its central task of elevating all humanity into absolute knowing (the knowing of the God within)—an elevation via Reason and Faith achievable only by the abolition of the God outside, i.e., by a negative followed by a positive period of history, which Schelling refers to as the Church of John, a synthesis of Catholicism and Protestantism, the perfected Churc h. Introduction My thesis, in brief, is that the painful "God is dead" period of history we are presently going through can best be understood as a necessary "transitional period"— the immediate consequence of mankind’s intellectual advance, in the preceding period, viz., the Modern or Age of Reason, beyond the Middle Ages, the Age of Belief. With the apotheosis of the development of the principle of subjectivity in Modern philosophy, i.e., with the attainmeUnprioritized— SDO meetingnt of "absolute knowing," or Reason’s "knowing of the absolute," humanity had outgrown its former manner of relating to substance, the divine: — its eyes opened, it could not go backwards but only forward. From the highest standpoint, it can be said that the movement of history is from the God "outside" to the God "inside"— an inversion process involving three distinct and necessary phases: Premodernity, Modernity, and Postmodernity, to be correlated with Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, a nd Nietzsche, respectively. It appears that as a result of Modernity’s, i.e. Hegel’s, intellectual achievement— in which religion was superseded by philosophy, i.e., Wissenschaft or Science— religion had of necessity to undergo a major crisis. That is, a "God is dead" period of (post-) history had to supervene. However this "negative" period is in no way to be regarded as final or terminal, but instead as the necessary precondition for a "positive," consummatory period of human history, its finale, a period in which, in Schelling’s words, the unification of philosophy, science, and religion will be realized.

Broadworth general hospital Essay

For the past 20 years our hospital has contracted all training seminars with your company, your company has been dependable and always gets the job done. In March, we need to train 20 supervisors in the area of Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the workplace. We would like your company Wydade Consulting Services to complete the training for us. The training will take place on the first floor of the hospital room. We would like your trainer Ms. Deb Walker, to teach the seminar. In the past, Ms. Walker has presented a strong and powerful power point presentation followed by a question and answer session. On the day of training we will need the following. Projector Presentation Brochures/handouts Notepads Pens light refreshments Please respond to me as soon as possible with a date MS Walker will be available in March. I can be reached at (598) 597 1234 Thank you Sincerely yours, Karen Lawrence A.A. KL/xx To: Deb Walker CC: Jeremy Dittmer @ Miriam Hopkins Subject: Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the work force Dear Deb: I would like to confirm our arrangements as we previously discussed regarding the seminar which is to be held on March 10 ,2016 at 2:00 . Located on the first floor in room 109 of the hospital you are more than welcome to come early to set up. We will be starting promptly at 2:00, refreshments and snacks will be there at approximately 4:15 to 4:30. If you require further assistance or have any questions, please contact me at (598) 597 1234 or via email at Lawrence.lawrence@ yahoo .com To: Miriam Hopkins, Director of Human Resources From: Karen Lawrence, Administrative Assistant Dec 17, 2012 Subject: Sexual Harassment and Unlawful Discrimination in the workplace We received a confirmation from Jeremy Dittmer regarding the seminar details, the date is March 10, 2016 and the time is 2:00 and has provided the trainer with all the necessary materials. The trainer he has assigned is MS Deb Walker, the seminar will be on the first floor room 109.We will make sure that we will have all the necessary materials. Ms Walker will be providing, pens; paper; pamphlets; follow along booklets. Refreshments such as coffee; tea; water; juice, and snacks will be provided and scheduled for delivery the afternoon of March 10 between 4:15 and 4:30. If you have have questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. You can also contact Deb Walker directly by email at Deb walker@ yahoo .com or by phone at (802) 559 6315 ext. 2206. KL/AA

Psychology of a Serial Killer Essay

Abstract Serial killings are defined as â€Å"having three or more victims in as many locations and as different events with the killer having a ‘cool off’ between each attack† (Fox & Levin, 2005, p. 17). Serial killings also happen over a period of months or years with the killer leading a normal life in between. Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental process. â€Å"There are grounds for the point of view that serial killers act from a conscious perspective but are influenced by a variety of unconscious drives† (Holmes & Burger, 1988, p. 98). There are different views of what makes a serial killer, ranging from mental instability or defect to problematic and abusive childhoods. Looking at the murders, methods, victims, and motivations of three different serial killers received from coroner reports, witness accounts, and their own point of view provides an opportunity to see any similarities behind what drove them to kill. Psychology of a Serial Killer Jack the Ripper Considered one of the most infamous of the world’s serial killers, Jack the Ripper’s murder spree lasted from 1888 to 1892 in the East End of London. Also known as the Whitechapel Murderer, he attacked prostitutes during late night and early morning hours, mutilating his victims’ bodies with the skill of someone who knows basic anatomy. Jack the Ripper’s first known victim was Mary Nichols, a prostitute, who was found early in the morning in a gateway in Bucks Row, Whitechapel on 31 August 1888. â€Å"She was lying on her back with her legs straight out, skirts raised almost to her waist and throat slashed almost to the point of beheading† (Jones, 2010). His second victim was Annie Chapman, another prostitute, found 8 September 1888 in the backyard of 29 Hanbury Street at 6am. The official coroner report stated: The left arm was placed across the left breast. The legs were drawn up, the feet resting on the ground, and the knees turned outwards. The face was swollen and turned on the right side. The tongue protruded between the front teeth, but not beyond the lips. The tongue was evidently much swollen. The front teeth were perfect as far as the first molar, top and bottom and very fine teeth they were. The body was terribly mutilated†¦the stiffness of the limbs was not marked, but was evidently commencing. He noticed that the throat was dissevered deeply; that the incisions through the skin were jagged and reached right round the neck. On the wooden paling between the yard in question and the next, smears of blood, corresponding to where the head of the deceased lay, were to be seen. These were about 14 inches from the ground and immediately above the part where the blood from the neck was pooled. (Jones, 2010) Later, after the body was moved to the morgue, the autopsy conducted revealed Annie Chapman was missing her womb. The third victim was Elizabeth Stride on 30 September 1888. She was found at one in the morning in Dutfield Yard. Her throat was cut but, â€Å"she was lying on the ground as though quietly placed there† (Jones, 2010), obviously, one of Jack the Rippe r’s less horrific murders. Roughly forty-five minutes after finding Stride, the body of Catherine Eddowes was found in Mitre Square laying on her back, clothes thrown above her waist and her throat slit as well. Jack the Ripper’s fifth and supposedly final victim was Mary Kelly on 9 November 1888. She was found that morning at 10:45 in the morning in her room at Millers Court. The coroner report stated: The body was lying naked in the middle of the bed, the shoulders flat, but the axis of the body inclined to the left side of the bed. The head was turned on the left cheek. The left arm was close to the body with the forearm flexed at a right angle & lying across the abdomen. The right arm was slightly abducted from the body & rested on the mattress, the elbow bent & the forearm supine with the fingers clenched. The legs were wide apart, the left thigh at right angles to the trunk & the right forming an obtuse angle with the pubes. The whole of the surface of the abdomen & thighs was removed & the abdominal Cavity emptied of its viscera. The breasts were cut off, the arms mutilated by several jagged wounds & the face hacked beyond recognition of the features. The tissues of the neck were severed all round down to the bone. The viscera were found in various parts viz: the uterus & Kidneys with one breast under the head, the other breast by the Rt foot, the Liver between the feet, the intestines by the right side & the spleen by the left side of the body. The flaps removed from the abdomen and thighs were on a table. The bed clothing at the right corner was saturated with blood, & on the floor beneath was a pool of blood covering about 2 feet square†¦ The face was gashed in all directions the nose cheeks, eyebrows and ears being partly removed. The lips were blanched & cut by several incisions running obliquely down to the chin. There were also numerous cuts extending irregularly across all the features. (Jones, 2010) Police later found that at four in the morning, neighbors had heard muffled calls of murder but had ignored them believing them to be from a case of domestic violence. Little else is known of Jack the Ripper as he was never caught. Speculations about his identity range from the severely impoverished to the very wealthy, and suspects are being added to the list to this day. John Haigh A respectable, well dressed, middle-class man of the 1940’s, John Haigh was a depraved killer who frequently blamed his strict religious upbringing for his actions. He was raised in a purist and anti-clerical household where he was cut off from normal society and his only source of entertainment came from the Bible. According to Haigh’s father, the world was evil and a person who sinned became marked and evil. The fear of gaining such a mark caused Haigh to be terrified of doing anything wrong. â€Å"It is said that a turning point in the boy’s developing psyche came when Haigh realized that no such blemish would appear, despite having lied or committed some other questionable behavior. He then started to believe that he was invincible and could get away with anything† (UK, 2005-2011) thus causing Haigh to become a manipulating and compulsive liar. After leaving his parents’ home, Haigh became a salesman and took to illegal activities such as fraud that usually landed him in prison serving short sentences. Haigh’s first victim was from the McSwan Family, a family he had come to know well; he lived with them and worked for them before marrying the daughter later. September 1944, Haigh took Donald McSwan to his residence where he then killed him; â€Å"the murder was carefully planned – having bludgeoned his victim with a club (or a similar weapon); Haigh then destroyed the body in a vat of acid. When bone and flesh had been reduced to a sludge-like mess, he poured the gooey residue onto the dirt surface of an open yard behind the building† (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) When Donald’s parents began asking Haigh about their son’s disappearance, he concocted a lie then lured them to his residence and disposed of them in the same fashion. He forged all their assets into his name and then promptly lost it gambling and began looking towards murder again. Haigh’s next victims were old retiree’s, Rosalie and Archibald Henderson that he met by acting as though he was going to buy a house from them. February 1948, he drove Dr. Henderson to his workshop where he shot him in the head and disposed of the body by dumping it into a vat of sulphuric acid. He then returned to Mrs. Henderson and told her that her husband had taken sick and needed her. She accompanied Haigh to his workshop where she met the same lethal fate as her husband. In both the McSwan and Henderson murders, Haigh emulated his victims’ handwriting and sent notes to their servants, relatives and friends; he explained that they had moved to Australia or some other distant place, mentioning that ‘Mr. Haigh’ would settle their affairs. (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) Haigh gained a substantial amount of money from the Henderson’s which he again lost to gambling. Haigh found and killed his next victim on 18 February 1949. Mrs. Durand-Deacon accompanied him to the Gloucester Road address. As soon as she entered the basement premises, Haigh shot her in the back of the head, killing her instantly. He stripped her and dumped her body into a 40-gallon vat of sulphuric acid. Haigh drained the receptacle through a basement sewer; afterwards, he scraped the sludge from the vat and dumped this onto the dirt of the back yard. This was hard work and Haigh, according to his later statements, paused to go to the nearby Ye Olde Ancient Prior’s Restaurant where he ate an egg on toast. He then returned to his workshop to â€Å"tidy up†. (John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer, n.d.) This would be the murder that got him caught. Haigh decided to play the concerned citizen since his latest victim was so close to home so he approached her closet friend, Mrs. Lane, and asked about Mrs. Durand -Deacon. After replying that the friend had thought Mrs. Durand-Deacon had left with him, Haigh quickly denied the accusation. The following day, he asked the same question to Mrs. Lane who decided to report the disappearance to the police. Haigh accompanied her to the police station to navigate suspicion away from himself, but one police officer preformed a background investigation on Haigh and because of what he saw became suspicious. Haigh was arrested and sentenced to death regardless of his claims and demonstrations of insanity. Jesse H. Pomeroy â€Å"The Boy Fiend, Jesse Pomeroy, is the youngest convicted serial killer in history† (Wilhiem, 2010). Starting with a troubled childhood due to a birth defect, Pomeroy was the subject of ridicule among his peers and his father couldn’t stand the sight of him and would viciously beat him when angry before his mother chased him off. It was stated that; Jesse was an intelligent boy, if somewhat anti-social. He would not join the other boys in baseball games or other athletic pursuits, but he was fond of playing ‘scouts and Indians’ where he would invariably be an Indian and devise elaborate imaginary tortures for captive scouts (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s mother was the first to notice something was wrong with her son after finding the heads twisted off her parakeets’ heads. The start of Pomeroy’s decent into murder began in Boston with Billy Paine who was found beaten in an outhouse. Soon after the police found Tracy Hayden in the same outhouse where â€Å"He was tied, stripped naked, and whipped across the back. The boy hit him in the face with a board, breaking his nose and knocking out two teeth. Then he threatened to cut off Tracy’s penis† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s third victim was Robert Maier who withstood the same brutal treatment. Chelsea police interviewed hundreds of boys but received no leads. Rumors began to circulate about the description of the killer and the picture people portrayed were that of the devil. Pomeroy was named â€Å"The Boy Torturer† after stripping and beating Johnny Balch. Pomeroy’s mother, suspected her son, and moved to South Boston with her family where the assaults continued only more often and more inhumane. â€Å"On August 17, seven-year-old George Pratt was abducted and wa s not just flogged. This time the abductor stuck a needle in his arm and his groin, and bit chunks of flesh from his face and buttocks† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy began using a knife to stab his victims repeatedly before attempting to cut off their genitalia. Robert Gould was the eighth victim and able to give police a useful description of his assailant. The parents of Gould refused to allow him to be escorted around to identify his attacker, and police were forced to ask Pomeroy’s seventh victim, Joseph Kennedy, who was then shown around the local schools and even came face to face with Pomeroy and was unable to identify him as the killer. That day, after school, for reasons Jesse was never able to explain, he went to the police station. Seeing Joseph Kennedy there, he quickly turned and left the station, but a policeman followed him out and brought him back. Now, looking closer, young Joseph saw the white eye and identified Jesse as his torturer. Jesse was held in a cell overnight and was persuaded to confess. The next day all of the victims identified him as their attacker. Jesse, then 12 years old, was sentenced to the reformatory, ‘for the term of his minority’ – a period of six years. (Wilhiem, 2010) Pomeroy acted as though he was better within the reformatory and seventeen months after his arrest, Pomeroy was placed on probation and set free. â€Å"March 18, 1874, 10-year-old Katie Curran left her home to buy a notebook for school and never returned. She was last seen entering Mrs. Pomeroy’s store. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Jesse’s history and the Corrans feared the worst.† (Wilhiem, 2010) At the police station Captain Dyer assured Mrs. Curran that Jesse could not be involved—he had been completely rehabilitated; besides he was only known to attack little boys. â€Å"Katie’s father was a Catholic and reflecting the attitudes of the time; local rumors said he sent her to a convent† (Wilhiem, 2010). Thirty-six days later a little boy, Horace Millen, was seen walking toward the wharf. Later that day Millen’s body was found half naked on the beach; he was stabbed multiple times in the chest, almost beheaded and half castrated. Pomeroy was the first person to come to the police chief’s mind upon hearing about the murders, but he quickly dismissed it on the assumption that Pomeroy was still in the reformatory, his men quickly corrected the assumption and were ordered to arrest Pomeroy. Pomeroy denied all charges, even when confronted with forensic evidence, until he was taken to see the dead body of Millen where â€Å"He admitted he killed Horace, something made him do it. He was sorry and wanted to leave. He told the policemen: ‘Put me somewhere, so I can’t do such things’† (Wilhiem, 2010). Pomeroy’s mother’s business suffered due to the recent events with her son, and she was forced to sell to a grocery chain. During renovations the decomposing body of Katie Curran was found under a heap of ashes and was only identifiable from her clothing. Pomeroy’s mother and brother were arrested for murder but were cleared by Pomeroy confessing to Curran’s murder after interrogation. Later, Pomeroy claimed to have only admitted guilt to save his mother. Pomeroy’s lawyers fought for the insanity plea but were denied because prosecution proved he knew right from wrong, Pomeroy was proven guilty for first degree murder at the age of 16 and sentenced to life in prison. Conclusion Looking at all three killers penchant for mutilating their victims’ bodies, the almost randomness in choosing of their victims, and the childhoods of at least two of the killers, mental trauma sustained during adolescence played a large part in the decline into becoming killers where they took the atrocities they viewed or had been done to them and focused them on their victims as a form of control and improper coping. Unfortunately, in the case of Jack the Ripper, we cannot look into his childhood and compare it to that of Pomeroy or Haigh, but we can deduce that with his choosing of female prostitutes and his horrific mutilation of them, he was traumatized as a child by his mother whether it was because she herself was a prostitute and he often saw her in-coitus with her customers or his mother was extremely controlling like that of the mother of Ed Gein, and after her death, possibly caused by him, he started reaching out and punishing her over and over again using local pr ostitutes as the subjects of his disdain. Pomeroy’s abuse and actions against his victims were a reflection of his father’s actions upon him that, as a way of control, he chose victims younger and smaller than himself to take control of the situation that he couldn’t at home; in essence, he was abusing himself for not being able to do anything against his own father. Haigh, though having an abusive and extremely volatile childhood, did not kill or choose his victims out of anything other than financial gain. Looking at his case files, we see the pattern that after he gambled away the profits of his previous killings he would then find new ‘prey’ to lure into his killing trap. His attempts at pleading insanity fell through because of his pattern of choosing only wealthy or profitable victims that benefitted him in the end and elevated his status. Applying criminological theory to these serial killers is possible, but narrowing their actions to just one is impossible. Some would say that Pomeroy was showing differential association and he had learned his behavior from his father or that strain could apply to both him and Haigh, though Haigh’s was from a financial stand point rather than from an inability to cope with his father beating him. Jack the Ripper is the only killer who would be difficult to apply any theory to with as little as we know of him or his childhood. References David Lester, P. (1995). Serial Killers: The Insatiable Passion. Philadelphia: Charles Press Publishers, Inc. Fox, J. A., & Levin, J. (2005). Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, Inc. Holmes, R. M., & Burger, J. D. (1988). Serial Murder. London: Sage Publications, Inc. John Haigh-Acid Bath Killer. (n.d.). Retrieved from horrorfind.com: http://usersites.horrorfind.com/home/horror/bedlambound/library/haigh.html Jones, R. (2010). Jack The Ripper: History, Victims, Letters, Suspects. Retrieved from Jack The Ripper History: http://www.jack-the-ripper.org/ Pomeroy, J. (2002). Autobiography of Jesse H. Pomeroy. Retrieved from http://kobek.com: http://kobek.com/autobiography.pdf UK, A. (2005-2011). Bibliography- John Haigh: The Acid bath Murderer on Crime and Investigation Network. Retrieved from CRIME FILE – Famous criminal: John Haigh: The Acid Bath Murderer : http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/jo hn-haigh-the-acid-bath-murderer/biography.html Wilhiem, R. (2010, August 7). Jesse Pomeroy: â€Å"Boy Fiend†. Retrieved from Murder By Gaslight: http://murderbygasslight.blogspot.com/2010/08/jesse-pomeroy-boston-boy-fiend.html

The eNotes Blog Novembers Teachers Corner Column A Guide to Summative and FormativeAssessments

Novembers Teachers Corner Column A Guide to Summative and FormativeAssessments Teacher’s Corner is a monthly newsletter from just for teachers. In it, experienced educator and contributor Susan Hurn shares her tips, tricks, and insight into  the world of teaching. Check out this month’s Teacher’s Corner column below, or sign up to receive the complete newsletter in your inbox at . Keeping Up with Assessment and Grading Assessing students’ achievement is an integral part of teaching, and like everything else in the profession, it has become more complicated. The days of giving a chapter test and calling it good are over. That’s not a bad thing though. To really keep tabs on who’s learning what, assessment has to be an ongoing process, and it has to offer kids a variety of ways to show what they know and what they can do. To be thorough and effective, assessment has to include the three main types of measurement: diagnostic, formative, and summative. Diagnostic assessment is imperative, since it’s impossible to know how much ground students have gained at the end of a study unit unless we know where they were at the beginning. Formative assessment checks their learning along the way and provides an opportunity to adjust lesson plans, if necessary, and to address specific problems a struggling student might be experiencing. Summative assessment at the end of a study unit indicates kids’ overall mastery of new material and gives a clear idea about how to proceed in instruction. A review of all six types of assessment can be found  here at edudemic.com.  Another good site with information about assessment practices is  utexas.edu/teaching. Summative assessments are most effective in determining student progress throughout the year when they vary in design and implementation. There are so many different ways to assess students’ knowledge and skills that it wouldn’t be feasible to list them all here, but five come to mind immediately: the five P’s- papers, presentations, projects, products, and portfolios. Check out the site Learner Centered Teaching for some suggestions.  It lists dozens of ways to assess learning in addition to using tests. At some point, assessments become grades to record. Keeping a grade book and reporting students’ grades have become more complicated, too. In days of yore, as you might remember, grades were recorded by hand in strange-looking books that teacherscarried around with them and guarded day and night. Some parents checked on grades occasionally, but most parents relied on grade cards to keep track of their kids’ achievement. Now, grade books throughout the land are electronic, and parents can review grades on line as they are recorded. It’s a plus that parents can see how their children are doing at school week to week, but keeping an electronic grade book up to date is a challenge, especially if you have stacks and stacks of papers to evaluate. Also, many districts now require teachers to record a minimum number of grades each week. There are some ways to keep up in posting grades, however, that also employ good methods of formative and summative assessment. For instance- Formative assessments: All formative assessments shouldn’t be graded, but it’s fair to take a few grades to indicate a student’s progress in achieving specific objectives. A good formative assessment doesn’t have to be time consuming to grade. Short check-up quizzes are easy to grade. A check-up could be as simple as asking the class two or three key questions over the material and having students respond briefly in writing after they hear each question. Having students do a few problems or complete a short worksheet over skills they should have mastered is another quick formative assessment that’s easy to grade. A crossword puzzle could serve as a valid, quick-to-grade formative assessment. With Puzzlemaker you can make your own crosswords, and nine other kinds of puzzles, several of which would be good to use in a formative assessment. Puzzlemaker is quick, easy, and free. Summative assessments: Since grading a comprehensive test usually takes a lot of time, use some other means of summative assessment, or write the kind of test you can grade and record more quickly. Student presentations can be graded with a rubric as you watch them in class. In creating rubrics, use free resources like this one from rubistar.org. It features a large collection of excellent rubrics over subjects in ten areas. You can use the rubrics as they are or easily edit them to measure exactly what you want to assess. Projects, like graphic organizers, take less time to grade than papers. They, too, can be scored quickly with a rubric. When you do use a test in summative assessment, write one that let kids show what they know in several ways and that you can grade in less time. Include a variety of questions- True/False, Fill in the Blank, Matching, Multiple Choice, Completion, and Short Answer Essay. Writing a variety of short answer essay questions and letting students choose two or three to tackle gives them a greater chance to demonstrate their knowledge. Grading several short essays requires less time and concentration than evaluating a long essay that by its nature is limited to one topic. It seems this month’s column has turned into an epic- again! I hope there’s something in it that contributes to your students’ success and makes your work a little easier and even more satisfying. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! See you in December. Susan

Business Terms and Relocation Essays

Business Terms and Relocation Essays Business Terms and Relocation Essay Business Terms and Relocation Essay Risks, Benefits and Costs of Relocation By Prudential Joseph R. Carucci Real Estate Business location continues to be a primary factor in sustaining a company’s competitive position – whether it is a corporate headquarters seeking to get closer to emerging markets, or a back office wanting to reduce operating costs. Companies often find that their current locations no longer provide the competitive advantage they once held. Consequently, they attempt to weigh the risks and benefits of a major relocation along with the costs to determine the viability of relocation. Risks Related to Relocation: By far the most significant risk related to a major relocation for any operation is the potential for business disruption. The outcome could result in the loss of valuable employees (knowledge assets) and distractions from normal business activity during planning and implementation that impact service delivery and customer retention. While the risk of disruption is real, careful planning and implementation can minimize its impact. A special relocation policy can be developed to maximize employee retention. Effective communications can minimize employee distraction and customer concerns. Short-term staff redundancy along with the phasing of relocation can minimize overall impact. Other factors that influence the success of a relocation decision include: Not making an effective location selection decision; Not adequately defining the costs of a relocation; Not making a reasonably accurate attrition calculation; Not engaging in a major relocation because of the fear of failure. Benefits of Relocation A relocation decision needs to achieve a payback in two to three years or less. Since the cost of labor comprises approximately 75% of the total operating cost, picking a location that results in a 10-15% reduction in labor cost is key. Because the majority of staff in a back office are on pay scales that reflect the local market, a significant cost reduction is potentially achievable. Attrition in a back office relocation is usually high (80-90%) depending on the destination. Benefits derived from relocating a company headquarters operation are less concerned with reducing cost and more on strategic positioning of the company. Key objectives focus on gaining access to emerging markets, enhancing the ability to recruit and retain top talent, or making a radical change in corporate culture – all of which send a positive signal to each company stakeholder and support the long-term viability of the company. Employee retention from a typical headquarters relocation is 60-70% and is influenced by the level of interest in the destination, availability of other local job opportunities and family situation. The average cost of relocation per employee is about $50,000, but can vary widely depending on salary, home ownership status and relocation policy provisions. Relocation Cost and Risk/Benefit Analysis Process Risks and benefits will vary for each type of business operation. In a given scenario, a particular condition may be viewed as either a risk or benefit depending on the specific needs of the company. For example, if a company wants to radically change culture and reduce the cost of highly tenured employees, a large percentage of attrition is positive. If there is a significant concern over the potential loss of â€Å"intellectual capital† due to a relocation, the company should have its relocation policy reviewed and incorporate provisions that maximize retention. The analysis process should be comprehensive, and take into consideration short-term risks as well as long-term benefits. Business location consulting firms specialize in preparing relocation analyses and in evaluating relocation alternatives. Factor examined include: retention/attrition of affected employees; one-time costs of relocation and build-out as well as the long-term costs and savings for real estate and labor. The following five-point process will help a company analyze its relocation cost and risk/benefit: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Define location and employment level alternatives. Determine potential employee retention and attrition for alternatives Estimate the one-time costs of relocation, attrition, new staff recruiting/training, etc. Estimate the incremental ongoing cost/savings over a specified period related to the cost of real estate and labor, facility improvements and lease penalties. Identify both the risks and benefits to the company for each location scenario. Whether it’s a short or long-distance relocation, this analysis process will help your company better understand the risks, benefits and costs of relocation.

Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants - Emphasis

Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants Mini CVs and pen portraits for management consultants When inviting a bid, clients sometimes ask you to include mini biographies, also known as pen portraits, of the potential team. Here, we show you   how to treat this as an opportunity to sell your company.   Focusing on the client’s needs and objectives is just as important in this section as it is in every other part of a bid. Most people read shorter, more easily digested chunks of information first. Mini CVs tend to (or at least should) fit this brief, so clients will often read these during their first flick through the bid document. It may even be the first section they read – and therefore your first opportunity to sell your team and your company. On the other hand, the client may read them once they have pretty much made up their minds to use you – in which case you want to confirm in their minds that you have assembled the right team for the job. Consider whether you want to include every potential team member, or just the senior figures. Do you know exactly who will be on the team, or will that be decided later? To keep it concise, perhaps write full portraits for the key members of the team and give just a brief outline of other potential team members. Your CV summaries need to be as targeted as the rest of the bid. So be sure to:   keep them short   give only relevant information   use specific examples   tie all information back to the project in hand   avoid clichà ©s (such as ‘client-centred advice’ and ‘proactive’). Dont do this David Stevens qualified as a management consultant in 1986 while at Smith Watson. He joined our Barking office when it was still owned by Stanford Prentice, a local management consultancy that had been established in the region for more than 80 years. David has worked for a wide and varying range of clients, and has experience of working with retail, law, agriculture, manufacturing and voluntary-sector organisations. He is also the author of a number of management consultancy guides, including The Stevens Method, which was first printed in 1995 and has been reprinted twice since. He is married to Clara and has two children – James and Isobel. He is also an avid football fan and sits on the board at Lincoln City FC. Instead, do this David Stevens – Senior Consultant Davids role will be to:   Keep you up to date through regular project meetings.   Control and authorise the project’s progress and be accountable for achieving its objectives. David has focused on work with retail businesses in the past five years, before which he specialised in voluntary-sector organisations. He is therefore particularly adept at designing and building new operating processes in businesses such as this, as well as delivering robust communication plans to ensure that all employees are engaged with the objectives of the project. He is also a leading member of our Employee Solutions team, and has a particular interest in employee share schemes and capital tax planning. Keep it relevant Remember to tie all the information back to the project in question – if you can’t, then it’s not relevant; and if it’s not relevant, it’s not helping your bid. Want more advice on writing bids? Read about our in-company   High-impact tender and sales proposal writing course. Or, if you want to train only one or two people, check out our open course sessions. Alternatively, give us a call on   +44 (0)1273 732 888. All businesses referred to in this article are fictional. To learn more about making  report writing a much easier and less painful task, check out our free webinar  recording How to turn your expert analysis into exceptional reports.  Its ideal if you have to write reports to colleagues and clients as part of your day-to-day job – whether thats as a traditional written report or as a slide deck.

Eat Local Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eat Local - Assignment Example The mere appearance of the burger was enticing. On consumption, I articulated its tasty nature to the regular and fast deliveries covered from the farm to the restaurant. Further, the organic farming practices and sustainable strategies used by the farm in outsourcing other products contributed to the food’s value. I ate mashed potatoes served with beef stew on the second day, whose ingredients emanated from Buckleberry Farm. It was realistic from the cost analysis that the farm stipulated reduced prices for its products prices citing to the reduced costs of the meals (Miller, 2014). For instance, the burger sold at $7 compared to the other burgers that cost $7.9 in the competing restaurants. The perception held following the meal’s consumption was that â€Å"local† food represented any supplies bred under sustainable and socio friendly methods within the US (Schindler, 2014). I concluded that eating local food was a healthy and an economical practice worth embra cing. In the contemporary global community, the majority human population prefers organic to inorganic foods. The perception is that organic agricultural foods are healthy compared to those grown under inorganic practices. It is arguable that the former practices include toxic elements that harm flora and fauna. The highlighted aspect prevails amongst other benefits accrued from the solution to consume locally grown and processed foods. The production and processing of the food at Buckleberry Farm is subject to strategic measures that guarantee hygiene and fast delivery thereafter. Arguably, the locally produced food will cost less compared to similar foreign or distant products in Eugene, Oregon. The freshness of local foods is evident from the practices embraced by the stakeholders (Miller, 2014). Foreign foods are subject to costly processes from production to marketing. In the end, outsourcing of the foreign foods incurs

William Penn and the charter of privlidges Research Paper

William Penn and the charter of privlidges - Research Paper Example The move toward democracy which is found in this document and in its own antecedent frameworks -- including the important initial document known as the First Frame, which had been drawn up by Penn while he was still in England and preparing to move his group of colonists under the royal charter -- came to be a critical influence in the building of a political foundation eventually leading to the establishment of the new nation. In this brief paper, the development of the Charter of Privileges and its outlines for self-government will be reviewed in order to discuss in detail the influence that the document held for later events in the founding of the nation. A chronological approach will be taken to studying the Charter, with comments on the political and social contexts of the document and the times. First, it will be shown how the document known as First Frame led to the Charter of Privileges and following this, a discussion of the content of the Charter itself will be offered to s how how it led to the concept of democratic self-government. Penn was a member of the religious group known as the Quakers. This group held to a series of strong religious and ideological beliefs that often brought them into conflict with the political and religious authorities in England. They were convinced that their forms of religious worship, which revolved around a pacifist, silent meditation on the nature of God and man, were correct, and they were unwilling to bend to the dictates of either the English government or the their more aggressively zealous religious rivals, the Puritans. Because of the societal and religious strife that occurred in England during the civil wars of the mid-1600s, they eventually came to be persecuted for their beliefs, often being harassed to the point of being locked up (Powell, n.d.). Penn’s father had made a sizeable loan to the king before his death, and in an attempt to find a way to move his people out of England, to somewhere that th ey could practice their religion freely and openly, Penn called in the loan. He was granted a charter to establish the Pennsylvania colony and given the proprietary rule of the colony to govern as he saw fit, provided that the laws he established fell under the general legal purview of the English constitutional monarchy (Powell, n.d.). In line with both his religious convictions and his own beliefs regarding the need for self-government Penn decided that he would establish a government that moved much further toward democracy than anything that was evident in England at the time. He drew up the First Frame as a governing document to accomplish his objectives. The First Frame begins with a description of why law is needed among men. It argues that God established men as his deputies to rule the word and gave them the skills and intelligence that they needed in order to rule justly. However, it points out that a lust for power and other â€Å"transgressions† had led men to be disobedient to God’s law and therefore a need was evident for judicial administration. Such administration required the need for rules that would govern men, as well as a governor to administer the rules (Penn, 1682). But the question then arose: How should one design the government? Should rule by monarchy, aristocracy, or democracy be preferred? Penn answered with the following: I choose to solve the controversy with this small distinction, and it belongs to all three: Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule, and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or

Summary for an article of political economy subject Essay

Summary for an article of political economy subject - Essay Example Although disregarded by many, neo-liberalisation jumped the barriers into active politics establishing themselves as the best politics nationally and internationally. By 1971, United States, Australia, Britain, and New Zealand adopted these ideas to their domestic programmes. By 1980, Neo-liberalism had grown to higher levels in Britain and United states such that it sidelined Keynesianism and social alternatives. It formed the pattern that shaped all the other policies even if its rationality would still be contested. Non-English speaking countries like Japan, Germany, and Sweden thought Neo-liberal ideas as defensive to shore up the model of capitalism, which was under pressure from other successful models. Additionally, Neo liberalism model was thought as an-outdated capitalist model that lacked analytical tools to direct policies and remedies to problems. However, Neo-liberalism remained prominent on state economies of Britons and Americans. In 1990s, neo-liberalisation triumphed after the failure of public capitalists of Germans, Swedes, and Japanese. Neo-liberalism became the dominant ideology of analysing capitalism as a global network of accumulation. One paramount influence of Neo-liberalism is that it gives priority to capital as resources rather than capital as production. This way it would give the means to disengage from commitments taken up from the Keynesian era. Many politicians are adamant to keep neo-liberalisation, which makes it difficult to win electoral support by itself. Neo-liberalism has some limitations, but some of its ideologies establish a solid basis for political and economic

Great depression in USA Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Great depression in USA - Coursework Example The other great expansion was amount of buyers. All this factors that experienced great expansion led to the increase in buying public utility stocks contributing to a rise in their prices. In October 1929, America experienced a dramatic fall in utility price. The decline in utility price caused panic among the margin buyers and they had to sell all the stocks (Divine et al., 751). 2. What was the legacy of the New Deal? The legacy of the New Deal is that it played a crucial role toward alleviating the worst suffering of the depression. For example, the early New Deal contributed in assisting bankers and industrialists (Divine et al., 762). Moreover, the early New Deal tried to assist large farmers and members of the labor union (Divine et al., 762). However, the New deal was still being held captive of the conventional thinking of the day. It is not possible to say that the New Deal would have ended the depression basing in the historical facts. For example, development of the World War II interrupted the process. 3.  How did Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s political philosophy affect his New Deal? Roosevelt political philosophy contributed to a decline in his New Deal (Divine et al., 751). He played a crucial role in defeating a number of conservative Democratic congress representatives and senators. Roosevelt’s target gleefully changed the interference with local politics. Divine et al., (774) indicates that only one of the men that Roosevelt sought to defeat lost in primaries. The worst blow of Roosevelt’s New Deal came in the economic sector. Most of the business executives claimed that Roosevelt recession reflected a lack of confidence in FDR’s leadership hence leading the New Deal to become ineffective (Divine et al., 751). 4. How did Herbert Hoover deal with the depression? Hoover blamed the depression on foreign policies. He rejected various proposals for bold government and relied instead on voluntary cooperation within the b usiness of which he used to halt the slide (Divine et al., 754). Moreover, he called various leaders associated with industries to the White house and secured agreement to maintain prices and wages at a high level. Hoover also believed in voluntary efforts that played a significant role in relieving the human suffering brought about by the depression. On this case, he called private charities and local governments to help in offering clothes and food to the needy ones. With the request of Hoover, Congress managed to cut taxes in an attempt to restore public confidence. He also managed to adopt a few federal works projects such as boulder dam in order to provide jobs for the young people (Divine et al., 754). 5. What were the weaknesses of the New Deal? Through the New Deal, Roosevelt managed to develop the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Through this organization, the burden of unemployment eased but it failed to overcome depression (Divine et al., 760). This means that one of the weaknesses of the New Deal is failure to overcome depression. Through the New Deal, the WPA filed to prime the American economy by increasing consumer purchasing power. The other weakness associated with the New Deal is that it led to a growing frustration and the appearance of more radical alternatives. These alternatives challenged the conservative nature of the New Deal that made the FDR to shift to the left (Divine et al., 760). Part 1 (B) What were the forces that caused the stock market to crash? According to the article, one of the causes that led to the

Adopting Linear Wireless Sensor Networks for Border Monitoring Literature review

Adopting Linear Wireless Sensor Networks for Border Monitoring - Literature review Example Any gap or monitoring loose within the borders might cause a severe damage to security of that country. In modern times the border patrolling has become a challenge and requires high degree of accuracy. It is a matter of national security and safe borders make up for safer cities. In past the border monitoring was conducted through manual means of physical check posts or the placing of an entire military unit. Technology has made things easier. The best form of border surveillance involves minimal human intervention which comes in form of installing of wireless sensor networks that detect the motion in the vicinity and respond accordingly. The border monitoring is done in various forms through use of technology. It is either done in form of satellite monitoring, or the cameras attached to the sensors, or in form of towers and other material being installed across the borders which serve as concrete obstacles and at times are contained with explosive materials. However these all need some sort of improvements and there is margin for increasing the efficiency on the borders. There are many existing systems that meant to be for border monitoring starting from fence and wall to very complex systems such as There is emerging interest in developing intelligent border monitoring systems to help countries protect their citizens Modern monitoring systems have much more demanding requirements: Large, busy and complex landscape, the use of heterogeneous technologies, the real-time acquisition and interpretation of the evolving landscape; instantaneous flagging of potentially critical situations in any weather and illumination conditions Real-time monitoring of landscape Variable topography: coastal plains, high mountains, dune, and large deserts. Existing Systems: Helios – Sponsored by British company Fotech Solutions. It consists of fiber-optic cables, lasers & detectors. Hellios is being implemented and proposed for surveillance across Southern Arizona borders in specific and other parts of America as well. It has number of features that separate it from the other existing border surveillance devices. It minimizes the hassle of wires, has considerably larger scale and accuracy along with synchronization with the G.P.S. GPS based Surveillance System: Global positioning system can either operate independently or in collaboration with the sensor networks. In the first case, through the satellites, the motion can be detected, and traced into forward positions, and in case of sensor networks, the alarms are being sent through the nodes which are tracked through the G.P.S devices and they enable further tracking of material across the no go areas. The use of GPS based surveillance system can be extended to the internet and HTTP protocol which will enable finding the record in the data base and hence reach the exact details of individuals. A general characteristic of G.P.S based surveillance system is the ability to detect weapons and other metal based material which might not be traced through conventional forms of surveillance devices. They enable identifying and detecting the movement done from the starting point and hence and tell what might be hidden inside the vehicles and other covered parts of the caravans in form of the business and trade goods that normally go pass the borders(Haggerty, 2010). Change detection Phenomena: This mode of the border monitoring system involves capturing and recording of image and information of a particular place at two different instances, mostly done through a satellite that monitors the activity and place constantly and records any difference that has occurred in a

Professional Development as a Strategic Manager Essay

Professional Development as a Strategic Manager - Essay Example c management study: the first makes stress on the meaning of the strategic management concepts, the second focuses on the process and important factors. The essence of the decision making in strategic management is perfectly explained by the following citation: The role of strategic management in the organization should not be underestimated as it is very important. The issue is worth-discussing; therefore, in the given paper I would like to discuss my professional development as a strategic manager and prove that I can build the long-term business strategy for the company British Airways taking into account the organizational change in the new rapidly changing market conditions. Now leadership ideas get new sense in the transportation industry; leadership is thoroughly investigated from the theoretical and practical points of view. It is obvious, that transportation industry requires gifted leaders as any other, however as far as transportation sector has special characteristics, and is focused on offering the clients distinctive services, leadership in this industry can’t be considered as universal. Nevertheless, leadership ideas of other successful companies can be applied and adapted to the sphere of transportation business. Shelley Kirkpatrick and  Edwin A. Locke  (1991) state that "key leader traits include: drive (a broad term which includes  achievement,  motivation, ambition, energy, tenacity, and initiative), leadership motivation (the desire to lead but not to seek power as an end in itself), honesty, integrity, self-confidence (which is associated with emotional stability), cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business. According to their research, "there is less clear evidence for traits such as charisma, creativity and flexibility". Though transportation industry is considered to be the one, where many leadership initiatives can’t be completely appropriate and almost certainly requiring other methods, however leadership is still very

Adopting Linear Wireless Sensor Networks for Border Monitoring Literature review

Adopting Linear Wireless Sensor Networks for Border Monitoring - Literature review Example Any gap or monitoring loose within the borders might cause a severe damage to security of that country. In modern times the border patrolling has become a challenge and requires high degree of accuracy. It is a matter of national security and safe borders make up for safer cities. In past the border monitoring was conducted through manual means of physical check posts or the placing of an entire military unit. Technology has made things easier. The best form of border surveillance involves minimal human intervention which comes in form of installing of wireless sensor networks that detect the motion in the vicinity and respond accordingly. The border monitoring is done in various forms through use of technology. It is either done in form of satellite monitoring, or the cameras attached to the sensors, or in form of towers and other material being installed across the borders which serve as concrete obstacles and at times are contained with explosive materials. However these all need some sort of improvements and there is margin for increasing the efficiency on the borders. There are many existing systems that meant to be for border monitoring starting from fence and wall to very complex systems such as There is emerging interest in developing intelligent border monitoring systems to help countries protect their citizens Modern monitoring systems have much more demanding requirements: Large, busy and complex landscape, the use of heterogeneous technologies, the real-time acquisition and interpretation of the evolving landscape; instantaneous flagging of potentially critical situations in any weather and illumination conditions Real-time monitoring of landscape Variable topography: coastal plains, high mountains, dune, and large deserts. Existing Systems: Helios – Sponsored by British company Fotech Solutions. It consists of fiber-optic cables, lasers & detectors. Hellios is being implemented and proposed for surveillance across Southern Arizona borders in specific and other parts of America as well. It has number of features that separate it from the other existing border surveillance devices. It minimizes the hassle of wires, has considerably larger scale and accuracy along with synchronization with the G.P.S. GPS based Surveillance System: Global positioning system can either operate independently or in collaboration with the sensor networks. In the first case, through the satellites, the motion can be detected, and traced into forward positions, and in case of sensor networks, the alarms are being sent through the nodes which are tracked through the G.P.S devices and they enable further tracking of material across the no go areas. The use of GPS based surveillance system can be extended to the internet and HTTP protocol which will enable finding the record in the data base and hence reach the exact details of individuals. A general characteristic of G.P.S based surveillance system is the ability to detect weapons and other metal based material which might not be traced through conventional forms of surveillance devices. They enable identifying and detecting the movement done from the starting point and hence and tell what might be hidden inside the vehicles and other covered parts of the caravans in form of the business and trade goods that normally go pass the borders(Haggerty, 2010). Change detection Phenomena: This mode of the border monitoring system involves capturing and recording of image and information of a particular place at two different instances, mostly done through a satellite that monitors the activity and place constantly and records any difference that has occurred in a

Nature vs. Nurture Essay Example for Free

Nature vs. Nurture Essay A lot of people wonder where they get their freckles from, or their edgy and thrill seeking personality. This type of curiosity about where people get their traits from brings about the worldwide debate on nature vs. nurture. There are scientists who argue that people develop characteristics mainly based on their genetic makeup, and then their are people who say that environment and social interactions has more to do with a person’s traits than do genes. People often question why people are the way they are. Nature and Nurture often have a big impact on a person, and can help in explaining why they are a certain way. The nature vs. nurture debate encompasses a variety of major topics, leading to the idea that both nature and nurture influences people in their behaviors and decisions. Criminals go through different reasoning processes for why they commit a crime. They may have been brought up in a rough environment and are acting out, or because they simply just can not control themselves or their minds. There is evidence which suggests that there could be such a thing as gene mutations that determine our traits. These mutations control how the mind and body react to anger , whether it’s aggressively or controlled. According to Adriel Bettelheim, â€Å"researchers studying a dysfunctional Dutch family announced in 1993 that aggressive behavior may be linked to a single faulty gene that causes a shortage of enzymes needed to break down serotonin molecules that transmit signals in the brain.† This idea that criminal behavior may be associated with genetics, opens the doors to many controversial topics such as the insanity defense or the possibility of gene therapy. â€Å"For many centuries, people have tried to craft legal distinctions for the mentall y ill based on the belief that they should not be held fully responsible for their actions† (). The insanity defense is believed to often be abused and is the easy way out for guilty criminals to be held accountable. There are also people who support the insanity defense and say that the law needs to protect people who are too mentally ill to understand their actions. For some criminals, it’s not just a matter of their genes but more their environment that contributes to why they commit crimes. â€Å"Many social scientists say researchers, in a rush to ‘biologize’ behavior, are ignoring environmental influences, such as poverty, broken families and  racism† (). A lot of times the reason why criminals get in trouble with the law, is because they are acting out. Being aggressive or going against authority is like their coping strategy for dealing with their problems. †The frequency and nature of todays violence can only point toward an inherent anger or frustration† (). Ultimately, both nature and nurture can affect criminals and people ma y never be able to fully understand what exactly leads them to make bad choices. In addition to criminal behavior, there are also many other controversial topics regarding nature vs. nurture, such as intelligence and what contributes to peoples intellectual ability. â€Å"Mental ability seems closely related to the volume of those little gray cells in the brain; and differences in that volume seem to be largely a result of heredity†().Scientists are finding that intelligence goes along with the amount of brain cells (gray cells) towards the front of the brain which can be inherited through the family. There is evidence which suggests that if a person does really well with one mental task, they are more than likely to do really well on other mental tests as well. This concept is considered the general mental ability which is associated with those gray cells. Although intelligence is found as being directly associated with the brain cells, many people believe that intelligence is also based on a person’s environment and how they learn. For a lot of people intellectual ability is not purely genetic. Their intelligence can have a lot to do with how they were brought up or their environment in which they learned. Someone who goes to school regularly will probably have a higher intelligence level, versus someone who doesn’t. How people start off learning is also important because often times, if a child is intellectually stimulated at earlier ages, their brain will mature as the child gets older and that child will have a higher intellectual ability because they started learning sooner. IQ testing is a very controversial topic because many people disagree over whether or not it is a good judge of a persons actual intelligence. â€Å"The rift between psychologists over the value of IQ tests stems from a stark difference in the w ay they define intelligence: One camp sees a central, dominant intelligence, the other envisions multiple types of intelligence† (). Although scientists have not found hard evidence to prove that IQ tests are  not liable, social scientists continue to go against certain theories, such as the idea of general mental ability. They choose to believe and promote that there are different kinds of intelligence and everyone excels in different areas regardless of genetics. While genetics does play a role in intelligence, if a person works hard in achieving their goals they can become just as intelligent through challenging themselves and excelling in certain areas. The worldwide debate on nature vs. nurture also encompasses addiction. In a study about drug addictions researchers found, â€Å"the correlations with psychoactive substance use largely resulted from social environmental factors in adolescence† (). Family environments are important to young children and can have a huge affect on them as they get older. An unstable family life can cause people to resort to drugs or alcohol to help them deal with their emotions. If a child has social issues with their friends when they are young, that can affect them as well and cause them to resort to substance abuse to deal with their problems. â€Å"As people aged, however, more of the correlation in psychoactive substance use resulted from genetic factors†(). As substances such as alcohol are more readily available to adults, genetics can influence them more and also their decisions. If there is a history of substance abuse in the family, that person is more likely to become addicted in their lifetime. In the 1920’s, â€Å"Alcohol prohibition lead to a rise in violent organized crime, a trend critics have compared to the ongoing war on drugs(). Because so many citizens used alcohol and a lot of them apparently became dependent on it, they felt they had rights to it; so they organized a violent crime movement to prove that. People who were involved in this war with drugs were not just the poor or downtrodden, but also the middle class and the wealthy. Addiction has no boundaries, and can affect anyone whether it is through nature or nurture. Nature vs nurture will always be a major dispute over genes and environment, but ultimately they both have an impact on people. The reasoning behind criminal behavior is often questioned. Evidence that suggests there are gene mutations, which contribute to aggressive behavior, argues that nature can have a major role in criminal behavior, just like nature affects criminals  actions. In addition to criminal behavior, another worldwide topic discussed in the nature vs nurture debate is intelligence. Like mentioned earlier, intelligence is thought to be determined by genes and general mental ability; but there are social scientists who believe that there are many different types of intelligence, determined by environment and not just genetic make up. Addiction is another controversial subject because addiction can run in families but it also can happen to someone who had no history of it. Addiction also is very much related to a persons environment and how they deal with their problems. For those who wonder where they get their intelligence and edgy personality, or more seriously why they feel aggressive, or become addicted to drugs, think about nature and nurture , which contribute to peoples personality and traits.